Chapter 34
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As Edith and Kaidros entered the estate, they were met with a scene of déjà vu in the first-floor lobby. The Viscount, his face flushed with fury, stood there, and before him was Marie, arms crossed, looking at him with a proud expression. Servants crowded around, watching the spectacle.
Then, all eyes turned to Edith.
As the two entered through the door, the Viscount, with his hefty frame, strode over, grabbed a fistful of her hair, and yanked.
“Kyahk!”
“You vile wench!!”
Edith screamed at the sudden, sharp pain of having her hair seized by the fuming Viscount, who shouted in a hoarse voice. Kaidros quickly intervened, pulling the Viscount away and speaking with a stern, angry expression.
“Viscount, what is the meaning of this?”
“Your Grace! Is it true?”
“What is true?”
Shielding her behind him, he raised an eyebrow and looked at the Viscount with an uncomfortable gaze.
“Even so, for people of the same bloodline to engage in such acts…!”
The Viscount, who had been shouting at Kaidros, seemed slightly cowed by his expression but still cried out indignantly. Unlike Edith, who didn’t understand the situation, Kaidros, who had begun to grasp it, raised one corner of his mouth as if suspecting some scheme.
“What have you heard to cause such a scene? Calm yourself.”
After huffing for a while, as if short of breath, the Viscount pointed a finger at Marie, who stood with her arms crossed, glaring at Edith.
“A maid of this estate says she saw it. That vile… no, Edith seduced Your Grace and committed an abominable act.”
“When did I ever seduce…!”
“You, just! Please, for goodness’ sake, just shut your mouth!”
As Edith flared up, unjustly accused by yet another absurd rumor, the Viscount roughly cut her off.
‘What on earth does the Viscount see his daughter Edith as?’
Edith glared at the Viscount, who ignored everything she said, swallowing her grievance and shutting her mouth.
Watching this scene, Kaidros wore an inscrutable smile, stroking his chin with one hand, then shifted his gaze to Marie. Marie, who had been staring at him, met his eyes, blushed like a guilty person, and hung her head deeply.
Then, his gaze lowered further to the brooch pinned on her chest. The brooch glinted ominously.
“It seems to be a misunderstanding, Viscount. Edith and I are not in such a relationship.”
“But, that maid said in the forest…”
“Ah, that. A large snake suddenly appeared, and I was merely trying to soothe the startled Edith. It seems she misunderstood.”
“Huh?”
Flustered by Kaidros’s words, the Viscount realized he had misunderstood and, feeling embarrassed by the needless awkwardness, redirected his anger toward Marie.
“Is that so? Marie, did you report to me without properly verifying the facts? Surely… you didn’t come to me based solely on your own conjecture?”
Marie, who had been standing arms crossed and defiant, was now watching the exchange between the prince and the Viscount with her head deeply bowed. Trying to plead her unfairness, she lifted her head and shouted sharply.
“That’s not it, Viscount! Beyond that, they’re always together! Even the servants say they’re in her room together from the early morning, so early that no one else is awake!”
“My, everyone knows I dote on Edith like a beloved younger sister. Is it a problem that I frequently visit her room?”
“No, no, that’s not a problem at all, Your Grace.”
“Weren’t you all viewing our relationship as affectionate siblings? It seems you all secretly thought me immoral.”
Marie tried desperately to insist that Edith had seduced Kaidros, but the Viscount, flustered by the prince’s reaction, glared at her instead.
Some of the servants watching the scene could no longer bear it and stepped forward in front of Marie.
“Enough! We can’t watch this any longer.”
“On the contrary, did you think we didn’t know you’ve been chasing after His Grace, always loitering near the garden wall?”
“Last time, we even saw you doing something strange in front of His Grace’s room in the middle of the night!”
“No matter how much you dislike the young lady, even after the jewel incident, are you trying to pin your ugly intentions on her again?”
With accusations erupting from all sides, Marie, pale-faced and cornered, finally blurted out what she shouldn’t have.
“What nonsense! His Grace and I are in love…! Huh…?”
Marie’s voice, initially confident as she shouted, faded toward the end as if even she didn’t know what she was saying. She looked dazed, unsure of what she had just said.
A heavy silence fell over the estate. Stunned by the absurd claim, Edith, the Viscount, and the servants all looked cautiously at Kaidros.
Kaidros, as if he had been waiting for this moment, wiped away the smile he wore until now. In a voice cold enough to freeze the silence, he spoke with sharp sarcasm.
“What delusions. As if I could ever fancy an ugly human like you, filled with nothing but impure thoughts.”
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